The William Hill Premiership title will be decided on the final day, after Hearts beat Falkirk 3-0 at Tynecastle Park, and Celtic snatched a late winner at Fir Park.
Despite a blistering performance from the Jambos in Gorgie where Frankie Kent and Cammy Devlin scored in the first-half, before Blair Spittal notched towards the end - Kelechi Ihenacho converted a late VAR-awarded penalty in Lanarkshire to set up a winner takes all shootout in Glasgow's east end in the season finale on Saturday.
Amidst the cauldron of noise on a night where so much was at stake, it was Falkirk who exploded out the traps, testing Alex Schwolow twice in quick succession before Calvin Miller had a goal disallowed for offside.
Hearts looked to respond, with Stuart Findlay flashing a header over the crossbar from Spittal's delivery before Kyziridis and Shankland combined to see the latter's effort well saved by Nicky Hogarth in the Bairns' goal.
The deadlock was finally broken just before the half-hour mark, with Kyziridis putting a smashing ball into the box from the corner, with Frankie Kent rising unmarked to plant a free header beyond Hogarth.
The second arrived moments later, with Lawrence Shankland remaining cool within a goalmouth scramble - laying the ball into the path of Cammy Devlin who struck the ball with force, taking a deflection off a Falkirk shirt and is it cannonned into the net.
It was full-blooded, end to end football, and Falkirk continued to threaten as the half drew to a close, with Alex Schwolow doing well to tip a vicious Calvin Miller effort over the bar.
HT: Heart of Midlothian 2-0 Falkirk
The Jambos began the second 45 with the same intensity they started, as Kyziridis saw his teasing cross crack the crossbar, before Lawrence Shankland saw a header drop just wide of the mark from a Kingsley delivery.
Whilst eyes were fixed on the score at Fir Park, the men in maroon continued to push, and substitute Landry Kabore added to Hearts' attacking menace as his cross was forced behind by Falkirk as McInnes' men wound themselves up for more.
The third and final goal would arrive late to the party, but was by the far the best of the bunch, with Blair Spittal cutting in off the right and arrowing a sweet strike into the far corner and well beyond the reach of Nicky Hogarth in the Bairns' goal.
With three minutes of added time to play, Hearts never looked like letting their rearguard slip, and the referee's whistle went to confirm another three points for Hearts and an unblemished home record for the JTs in the entire 2025/26 season.
Celtic's late penalty at Fir Park brought them to within a point of the league leaders, but Heart of Midlothian will go to Glasgow's east end on Saturday full of belief that the league flag could return to Gorgie for the first time in 66 years sooner rather than later.
Hearts: Schwolow, Kent, Baningime, Shankland, Braga (Kabore 83'), Devlin, Steinwender, Spittal (Forrest 90+3'), Milne (Kingsley 45'), Findlay, Kyziridis (Kerjota 83')
Subs: Fulton, Kingsley, McCart, Kabore, Borchgrevink, Forrest, Altena, Kerjota, Chesnokov
Falkirk: Hogarth, Henderson, Donaldson, Spencer, Broggio, Yeats, Allan, Tait (MacIver 45'), Wilson (Parkinson 45'), Miller, Hart
Subs: Sneddon, Graham, MacIver, Cartwright, Oliver, Ross, Parkinson, Brown, Bennett
